Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi returned to practice on Friday afternoon, a day after he took a puck in the face near the end of the 2-1 win over the Penguins in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series at the Garden. Coach Alain Vigneault had mentioned after the game that Girardi was seeing the dentist, but he didn’t need any sort of procedure and Girardi deemed himself ready for Game 2 on Saturday night at the Garden.

“They just checked to make sure all the teeth were still there,” said Girardi, who missed the final 9:29 after a Chris Kunitz shot deflected up and caught him near his right jaw. “Everything is fine. I’m ready to go.”

The 30-year-old Girardi has missed four games in his career because of injury since being called up in the middle of the 2006-07 season — plus one involuntary resting in the final game of last season — and was not planning on wearing any sort of extra protection. He also didn’t consider skipping practice.

“Everything is fine,” he said, “so you have to practice.”

Girardi’s teammates obviously appreciate his toughness, as does the coach.

“He’s certainly puts his body on the line every shift he’s on the ice,” Vigneault said. “Dan is obviously a solid defensive defenseman that gets in shooting lanes, has the ability to finish a good check when the opportunity is there. He’s always playing against the top players on the other team, so he was certainly an important part of our D group.”

Defenseman Kevin Klein still didn’t practice with the team as he continues to recover from his broken left arm suffered on March 11. Vigneault said Klein skated by himself on Friday morning, but ruled him out for Game 2.

“Status hasn’t changed,” Vigneault said.

As for whether Klein has been cleared to shoot, Vigneault added, “I couldn’t tell you. All I know is he hasn’t been cleared to practice.”

The Rangers’ power play went 1-for-5 on Thursday, with Ryan McDonagh scoring what turned out to be the game-winning goal on the man-advantage late in the first period. Those four missed opportunities didn’t exactly seem to bother Vigneault too much, either.

“I think it got us some good looks,” he said. “We were 1-for-5, and that’s 20 percent. In the regular season, that’s pretty good. I know there’s a lot of attention and scrutiny being put on that, but I think for the most part, it’s an area, like the rest of our game, that can get better. But at the right time in a pressure moment, it got us a big goal.”